(Yicai Global) Oct. 12 -- ZTE’s shares surged after the Chinese telecoms giant said its self-developed seven-nanometer chips are now commercially available.

The company’s Hong Kong-listed shares [HKG:00763] closed 5.6 percent higher today at HKD19.98 (USD2.57) each, while its mainland stock [SHE:000063] advanced 4.4 percent to CNY34.86 (USD5.17).

ZTE’s 7-nm semiconductors are already being used as master control chips in fifth-generation wireless base stations and switches, Tencent News cited Vice President Li Hui as saying at the third Digital China Summit in Fuzhou yesterday. Its 5-nm chips are still undergoing trials, Li said.

The Shenzhen-based company used to depend on US chips and components until it was slapped with a seven-year ban by the Trump administration in 2018 for violating US trade sanctions on Iran, which prevented American businesses from selling it their hardware and software. As a result, ZTE has been investing heavily in developing its own technologies.

The company can do the earliest structure design, simulations, front-end designing, rear-end physical implementation, design and execution of assembly and tests as well as future failure analysis of the chips, according to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Xie Junshi.

But ZTE is not yet able to manufacture its own chips. Rather, its 7-nm chips are produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and it uses Taiwan’s ASE Group’s 25D/interposer technology for assembly and testing.

Editor: Kim Taylor